Service and value co-production and co-creation in emergency services and emergency management

This is an editorial of the special issue of the International Journal of Emergency Services which explores the phenomenon of co-producing and co-creating services, policies and knowledge and the creation or destruction of value in the delivery of emergency services and more broadly in the research and practice of emergency management. It seeks to understand what should be considered as value in the co-production and co-creation of emergency services and emergency management since it is not always clear what “value” is and for whom it is created. In addition, the special issue offers a reflection upon the current concepts of co-production, co-creation and public value creation and links this discourse to the field of emergency management. These issues are exemplified by the domestic and international response to Covid-19

Struggling with happiness: A pathway leading depression to gambling disorder

A number of studies have suggested that depressive mood might lead to the development and/or maintenance of a gambling disorder (GD). The pathways by which such relationships are fostered may involve deficits in emotional regulation capacity and dysfunctional coping styles. This study aims to explore the role played by depressive symptomatology and the regulation of positive emotion in GD. We administered the South Oaks Gambling Inventory (SOGS, Lesieur and Blume in Am J Psychiatry 144(9):1184\u20131188, 1987), the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21, Lovibond and Lovibond in Manual for the depression anxiety stress scales. Psychology Foundation, Sydney, 1995) and the Kill-joy Thinking subscale of the Ways of Savouring Checklist (WOSC, Bryant and Veroff in Savoring: a new model of positive experience. Lawrence Erlbaum, Mahwah, 2007) to a sample of pathological gamblers (n = 91) and a sample of community participants (n = 105). The pathological gamblers scored higher on the DASS-21 subscales and obtained higher scores on the Kill-joy Thinking subscale of the WOSC compared to the controls. Moreover, the SOGS scores positively correlate with the DASS-21 subscales, and with the Kill-Joy Thinking measure. Finally, it is evident that Kill-joy Thinking fully mediates the relationship between depressive symptomatology and GD severity. Our results further confirm the roles of depression, anxiety and stress in GD. Moreover, this is the first study to explore the mediating role of dampening processes in the relationship between depression and GD. Future lines of research are also discussed

Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Psychopathic Traits in Violent Offenders

Purpose: The present study aimed to advance our understanding of the relevance of emotion dysregulation (ED) for psychopathy. Methods: Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) were employed to examine person- and variable-centered associations between ED domains and psychopathic traits in a moderately-large (N=268) sample of violent male offenders. Results: LPA results indicated a 3-class solution with offenders most accurately classified based on ED levels (low, medium, high) across domains. The three ED subgroups revealed linear positive associations with psychopathy total, affective, and lifestyle facet scores, such that elevated levels of these traits were found in subgroups with greater ED. A similar linear trend emerged for the antisocial \u2013 but not interpersonal \u2013 facet, in-line with recent studies showing positive associations between executive functioning and interpersonal features of psychopathy. In SEM analyses, a latent ED factor positively predicted a super-ordinate psychopathy factor, controlling for psychopathological distress. Conclusions: Taken together, current findings support the notion that ED involves broad difficulties across emotion regulation domains, which vary by degree rather than in kind, and that these difficulties have linear positive relations with psychopathic traits among violent offenders

Single and Multiple Clinical Syndromes in Incarcerated Offenders

The present study examined the prevalence and correlates of clinical syndromes in a large group (N = 438) of incarcerated violent offenders, looking at differences between inmates with one and those with more than one clinical syndromes. More than a half of the sample (57%) reported clinically relevant symptoms for at least one clinical syndrome (n = 252), and the majority of them (38%) reported more syndromes in comorbidity (n = 169). Increased severity of clinical conditions (none, one, more than one syndrome) corresponded with significantly greater levels of personality disorder traits, psychological symptoms, dissociation, and negative emotionality, with large effect sizes. After controlling for co-occurrence of personality disorder traits and other symptoms, the presence of more than one comorbid syndrome significantly predicted unique variance in dissociation (positively) and positive emotionality (negatively). The presence of one clinical syndrome significantly and positively predicted negative emotionality. Findings support the possibility that the complexity, and not just the presence, of psychopathology could identify different groups of inmates

An Exploration of Home Attachment Representations using an Adaptation of Adult Attachment Interview: Preliminary Data on the Home Attachment Interview

Background: In analysing the literature on household as a physical structure strongly linked to cultural and affective aspects, as well as to universal central psychological needs, a universe of meanings was found. The household, conceptualised as home and safe shelter that contains and protects, but also as a favourite place where the most important relationships of each human being unfold, suggests to use attachment theory perspective as a potentially useful framework to conceptualize the construct of home attachment. However, this perspective needs to be further investigated in order to understand its complex nature. Therefore, this pilot study aims to investigate how individuals represent their own homes according to their feelings and emotions related to their household.Methods: A qualitative-quantitative survey has been carried out with 50 adults (50% females) divided into five different age groups (from late adolescence to old age). An adapted version of the Adult Attachment Interview, the Home Attachment Interview, was administered.Results: Analysis identified the relevant aspects that distinguish the "house" as a physical structure, and the "home", that symbolically encloses emotional and affective experiences suggesting a perception of the "house" as "home", being a special place characterised by a strong attachment relationship connoted symbolically and affectively.Conclusions: Attachment theoretical and methodological tools used in the study appear especially useful to investigate and understand the construct of home attachment

Cultural Adaptation of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale: Reliability and Validity of an Italian Version

Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of an Italian version of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz & Roemer, 2004). Method Three studies were completed. First, factorial structure, internal consistency, and concurrent validity of our Italian version of the DERS were examined with a sample of 323 students (77% female; mean age 25.6). Second, test-retest analyses were completed using a different sample of 61 students (80% female; mean age 24.7). Third, the scores produced by a small clinical sample of participants (N = 38; mean age = 24.2) affected by anorexia, binge eating disorder, or bulimia were compared to those of an age-matched, nonclinical female sample (N = 38; mean age = 24.7). Results The factorial structure replicated quite well the six-factor structure proposed by Gratz and Roemer. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability were adequate and comparable to previous findings. The validity was good, as indicated by both the concurrent validity analysis and the clinical-nonclinical sample comparison. Conclusions These studies provide further support for the multidimensional model of emotion regulation postulated by Gratz and Roemer and strengthen the rationale for cross-cultural utilization of the DERS. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Clin. Psychol. 00:1-20, 2012

Improving the psychometric properties of the dissociative experiences scale (DES-II):A Rasch validation study

Background : The Dissociative Experiences Scale-II (DES-II) is a self-report questionnaire that measures dissociative experiences such as derealization, depersonalization, absorption and amnesia. The DES-II has been prevalently used as a screening tool in patients suffering from psychotic disorders or schizophrenia. However, dissociative experiences can also be part of normal psychological life. Despite its popularity, the most problematic aspect of the DES-II is the inconsistency in its factor structure, which is probably due to the tendency to treat ordinal responses as responses on an interval scale, as it is assumed in the Classical Test Theory approach. In order to address issues related to the inconsistency of previous results, the aim of the present study was to collect new psychometric evidence to improve the properties of the DES-II using Rasch analysis, i.e. analyzing the functioning of the response scale. Methods: Data were obtained on a sample composed by 320 Italian participants (122 inmates and 198 community-dwelling individuals) and were analyzed with the Rasch model. This model allows the estimation of participants' level of dissociation, the degree of misfit of each item, the reliability of each item, and their measurement invariance. Moreover, Rasch estimation allows to determine the best response scale, in terms of response modalities number and their discriminant power. Results: Three items of the scale had strong misfit. After their deletion, the resulting scale was composed by 25 items, which had low levels of misfit and high reliability, and showed measurement invariance. Participants tended to select more often lower categories of the response scale. Conclusions: Results provided new knowledge on the DES-II structure and its psychometric properties, contributing to the understanding and measurement of the dissociation construct

On the factor structure of the Dissociative Experiences Scale:ontribution with an Italian version of the DES-II

Aim of the study: Notwithstanding its clinical and empirical relevance, there is no consensus on how to conceptualize dissociation. This may be partly due to the conflicting results yielded on the factor structure of the gold-standard selfreport measure of dissociation (the Dissociative Experiences Scale-Revised; DES-II, Carlson and Putnam, 1993). In an attempt to advance research on this topic, we sought to explore the factorial structure of an Italian version of the DES-II. Material and methods: A sample of 320 subjects (122 inmates and 198 community participants) was administered the Italian version of the DES-II. Results: The Italian version of the DES-II showed good psychometric properties and replicated a two-factor structure. Items content seemed to support the distinction into two qualitatively different forms of dissociative experiences, described as detachment and compartmentalization phenomena. In line with the expectations, participants in the inmate sample reported higher rates of dissociative experiences than community participants, on both dimensions. Conclusions: This study provides further support for the validity of the Italian version of the DES-II for use with community and inmate samples. Furthermore, we corroborated previous evidence on a two-factor structure of the DES-II, which is consistent with theoretical assumptions describing two distinct, albeit overlapping, dissociative dimensions (i.e., detachment and compartmentalization)

Sexual and functional outcomes of prostate artery embolisation. A prospective long-term follow-up, large cohort study.

Among minimally invasive procedures for treating benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH) prostate artery embolisation (PAE) is described as safe and effective. Aim of this study is to report our results, focusing on sexual outcomes (erectile and ejaculatory functions sparing) of PAE in patients suffering from bladder outlet obstruction (BOO) secondary to BPH